Transformational Trust

In today’s culture, what is an appropriate “rite of passage” for a boy to be considered a man?

Is it when he get’s his drivers lisence? His first job? When he turns 21? When he gets married?

I first felt like a man when I put my first pair of shoulder pads on for my first high school football game…

I quickly learned I was still a boy…

There is a legend associated with the Cherokee tribe regarding the rite of passage for their sons becoming men.

The Father would take the son into the middle of the forest, place him on a stump, blindfold him, and give them these instructions…

1. You are to not remove the blindfold until you see the sun shine through it in the morning.

2. No matter what you hear and what you feel, you are not to cry out for help.

As the son sat on the stump throughout the night, he probably hear sounds of wild animals moving around him. He probably felt things crawling on him.

There is something about the woods at night- it’s like it comes alive!

Could you imagine how scary that is? Think about the worst case scenario… Snakes?

As the son begins to see the light of the sun at the break of dawn, he removes his blindfold.

There across the way, he sees a figure he recognizes.

Leaned up against a tree is his father with a bow in hand and a spear in reach…

Imagine the confidence that boy would have gained knowing his father was sitting near him the entire night for his protection.

Regardless, He endured the night.

Not because he wasn’t fearful.

He endured the night because he believed in the process and knew there was a purpose.

He believed because He knew His father’s intentions.

There have been countless times where I have found myself asking the question, ‘What in the world is going on?”

As a Florida State fan, I felt this every weekend during this football season!

Life doesn’t always make sense. Just when you feel as if you have figured it out, you begin to realize how much you don’t know.

We spend our lives trying to build our life’s purpose.

We set goals, reach goals, and then reset goals.

We fight fatigue, stress, pain, frustration.

The truth is that no matter how fearful we are, no matter what life may bring, God is always present and God is always working on our behalf… Even when we can’t tell or see…

If you have your Bibles with you, turn to Psalm 37:3-6

Psalm 37:3–6 (ESV)

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

Leading up to this weekend, I have been praying that the Lord would speak to you clearly through His word, that you would hear His comforting truth- regardless of your current circumstance.

You may feel inadequate, frustrated, or confused.

This morning, let God’s truth being you clarity and peace- it is active and and given to you for this very moment.

One day, Caroline and I were driving somewhere and AC was only about or 5 months old.

While merging into the lane off of an onramp, a car flew up beside me and started merging at a fast rate as if they were trying to hit us.

After recognizing they weren’t paying attention to us, I slammed on breaks and quickly veered left to avoid a wreck.

Caroline, shocked and a bit in fear, looked at me to find my face turning beat red.

“They aren’t getting away with this- they will know who they are messing with…”

In order to restore the dominant name of my forefathers, I hit the gas with every intention to make my name known.

As Caroline is hitting me yelling, “Stop it Seth King,” I finally came to my senses and slowed down recognizing that my fear, that led to anger, was not protecting my family, but putting them in possible danger.

I was so consumed with the idea that they couldn’t get away with their wrong!

It can be so frustrating watching evil, mean, or wicked people and destructive circumstances get away with things!

Especially when we are trying our best to walk in faithfulness to God!

How often do we look at the world and wonder why their life looks good and fun while we wrestle inwardly with temptation and longing for the immediate gratification they seem to have!

All over the world and in our nation we are faced with people seemingly not getting what they deserve…

**That driver deserved to catch these hands AND get his lisence suspended!

But at the end of the day, we can’t be worried about those things. We definitely can’t be fearful of them. We have to trust that the God who is in complete control is in complete control.

So here is the warning of Psalm 37…

A call to trust is a call to stop worrying…

Worry lets fear to win.

No one wants to live in fear!

Let’s start by acknowledging the weapon that fear is-

We all share a common enemy- the enemy, known as the devil or satan in the Bible, lives to distract the believer from walking in faithfulness by convincing us that we can do a better job.

The main weapon of the enemy is fear and discouragement.

If you are facing either of these things, know that they are not of the Lord!

1 Peter 5:8–9 (ESV)

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

We do not serve a God who insights fear or anxiety upon His children. He only builds us up in love and grace, He does not tear us down with discouragement.

In fact, He does not live to just extend grace, love, and purpose, but He also lives to receive your worries and fears!

Charles Spurgeon once said, ‘Worry does not empty tomorrow of it’s sorrow, it empties today of it’s strength.”

When we are struggling with crippling fear, worried about what tomorrow brings, or fed up with circumstances beyond our control, what do we do?

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV)

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We let God know.

I had a bully in elementary school one time. He kept picking on me and would constantly make fun of me.

No one liked him.

After a while I became pretty anxious about the fact that this kid wouldn’t stop. I would tell the teachers and for some reason the problem wouldn’t be fixed.

When recess would come around, I was fearful of playing on the playground because I was constantly trying to avoid this kid.

There was one day I had enough. I thought to myself, “I know exactly what I am going to do… I am going to tell my father.”

My father was a first degree black belt in a rare form of Japanese Ju-jitsu.

After explaining everything to my dad, I went to the playground one day. As soon as that little bully started messing with me, it was like my dad called every teacher and paid them to protect my life that day.

He never messed with me again.

Take your worries and fears to your Father. He is working even when you don’t see it.

Don’t let your fear win.

Faithfulness suffocates fear.

When we begin to set our eyes on what we need more than what we have in Christ, fear will begin to cast a shadow that darkens the path of faithfulness.

It is hard to follow Jesus when we aren’t listening to Him!

This is why Paul says in Colossians 3:2

Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Just like, dad’s and husbands, you wife and kids look to you to fix every tech problem in the house, so then we look to God to fix our issues in life!

Why?

Because we trust that He can!

If our eyes are not set on our sovereign God, then we are looking to fix a broken world ourselves.

And we can’t.

Why?

Because we are broken too…

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Our sin is what separated us from God-

Because of our sin, our natural tendency is to do everything against the will of God.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So the consequence of our sin is eternal separation from God- dead.

We can’t save ourselves from this- death is a reality for all of us.

Our sinful state places us in a life with no hope.

Hopelessness presents worry. Worry let’s fear win.

But it doesn’t have to be that way-

We can find hope in life. We can live a life that is life giving.

We can be saved from sin, no longer living in uncertainty, fear, and frustration of the suffering that surrounds us.

Psalm 37:3 (ESV)

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

David’s call to trust the Lord is rooted in his experience that trusting in the Lord will radically transform your life.

Trust ignites transformation.

Dwelling in the land has also been translated as enjoy safe pastors, feed on his faithfulness, enjoy security.

In summary…

God is faithful to the faithful.

Psalm 37:4 (ESV)

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

You mean to tell me I can have anything I want if I delight in the Lord?!

Yes! Well, maybe not really.

This passage points to a greater reality.

Our sin, that can not be overcome by anything we do, is only defeated by our faith in the person and work and Jesus Christ, God’s son.

Jesus left heaven, leaving his throne of authority, to come down and walk among us.

The life he lived was perfect, contrary to our experience.

Knowing that the consequence of sin is death, he voluntarily gave his life to suffer the consequence in our place.

Once killed, he was raised from the dead and now currently sits at the right hand of God the Father.

Our faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection saves us from our sins and allows us to no longer experience death, but to receive the gift that is offered which is eternal life free of everything this broken world consists of!

Therefore, to delight in the Lord means that our greatest desires will be to know God more because our relationship with Him brings complete satisfaction- there is no other need!

So what exactly does it look like to trust in the Lord?

Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

Commitment follows trust-

So when the passage says in verses 5

Psalm 37:5 (ESV)

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

It really means to “roll off your burden.”

This is the same idea presented in…

1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Your life transformed by trust then looks like…

A life of relief.

A life of confidence.

A life that is satisfied.

Let me ask you this question…

Where in your life are you lacking peace?

Are you struggling with worry or fear?

Is the world overwhelmingly dominating your joy?

Is knowing God as your greatest need? Are you satisfied in life? Confident in who you are before the Lord?

This is my prayer for you this week…

Romans 15:13 (ESV)

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.